BRITAIN POLITICAL LANDSCAPE 18TH CENTURY Flashcards
(25 cards)
What did parliament look like In 18th C
- Britain had a parliamentary democracy
- Lords could use their wealth and power to ‘buy’ MPs in the commons
What were most of the representatives in parliament
- Wealthy aristocratic landowners
what are patronage powers
power to control appointments
- lords could support whoever they wanted financially to become MPS (making sure the elite stay in power)
- tenants could be evicted by landlords if they didn’t vote as told to do so
how many lords in 1760 were financed compared to 1800
-110/650 in 1760
- over 50% by 1800
What were boroughs
- area of land which elected 2 MPs (some boroughs have many people living their but not Mps)
pocket borough
- small borough easily manipulated by landowner
potwalloper borough
- vote to men in a household who had a hearth big enough to boil a pot
rotten borough
small towns that declined in stature (old Sarum had 7 voters and 2 mps)
- or doesn’t exist due to coastal erosion
what were counties
rural shires in Britain which elected 2 MPs
what were the qualifications to vote in a county
- men needed to own. a property worth more than 40 shillings a year
the regions, what was the status of Ireland
- ireland was 90% catholic with catholic citizens being treated as second class citizens
- couldn’t vote or own land
when were catholics allowed to become MPs
-emancipation act. 1829
what was the electorate in 1831
- only 500k men could vote out of total pop 24mill
who could and couldn’t vote
- only men could vote
- industrial class couldn’t vote
- women can’t vote
issues with the voting system
- small boroughs were controlled by landowners
- until 1872 secret ballot act people could be influenced for who they vote forw
- voting qualifications
what were the main two parties in the 18th C
- tories ( Irish for robber)
-whigs (whiggamore, Scottish insult)
brief history of tory party
- started in 17th century by wealthy land owners
- supported monarchy + church
-opposed reform of parliament
brief history of whig party
- started in 17th C also by wealthy landowners
-responsible for restricting power of the monarch through the 1689 bill of rights
-supported religious liberty
RADICALS
- only handful of mps EG Joseph Hume
- wanted reform of political system, expanded franchise + imporvmenet of working conditions for the wc
when was the french revolution
1789-94
causes of French rev: political
- ancient regime (absolute monarchs believed in divine rights of kings)
- enlightenment brought around new ideas ( EG tennis court oath established a constitution)
causes of French rev: economic
- people at the top of the feudal system didn’t pay taxes
-resulting in country being in debt (300k -600k in 3 years) - Debt worsened by king Louis XIV who spent lots of money on foreign wars EG usa rev
causes of French rev: social
-terrible harvests in 1789 due to bad weather increased food prieces (trigger)
- French society divided into 3 classes(3 estates)
- First+2nd estate didn’t pay taxes to the monarch
-90% of peasants lived below substance level
significance of French rev on politics in Britain: whigs reactiuon
-initially the whigs EG earl grey supported the rev
-but when the terror phase began (1793 killing 30k priests+nationalising church property) they withdrew support in fear of it spreading across the channel
- religion was a integral part of society back the n
